Wil spends some quality time with Penny hoping to get some information from her, but soon realizes she really doesn’t know anything about the mission. She tells him that even if she did, she probably wouldn’t tell him.

“Is that what happened with Greyling?”

A variety of emotions played across his brutally handsome face, settling again for sullen.

“No.” He offered no more explanation.

His comunit beeped and he answered automatically. “VanLipsig, go ahead.”

“Wil, I need you and Penny in my office immediately. Grab a shower. I want you both here in ten minutes.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said, saluting her voice.

Picking Penny up in his arms, he carried her to the shower where he caressed her as they bathed. It was the most erotic shower she’d ever had and it left her wanting more of what Wil had to offer. As they dressed, his eyes never left her body, touching her as sensually as his hands and lips had done. She squirmed under his gaze.

“How do you do that?” She asked him as he buttoned his sleeves and fixed his cap.

“Do what?”

“Make me keep on wanting you….” She blushed, thinking of how they had spent the last two hours and how she wanted to spend endless more.

“It’s the eye patch,” he grinned, setting her beret at a rakish angle matching his own. “Chicks dig the eye patch.” Taking her hand, he led her quickly to Greyling’s office. They walked in the door with one minute to go.

Greyling sat behind her desk. Ben and Ray sat in front of her, one on either side. Two empty chairs were in the middle. Wil waited for Penny to take one, he took the other.

“Glad you could join us so promptly, Colonel.”

Greyling nodded at Penny, but said nothing. Rather, she eyed the two of them expectantly. Getting no response, she cleared her throat and continued.

“I’ve gotten the four of you here because I need your help. There is a very important matter I can’t entrust to anyone else.”

The four Marines looked at her expectantly. Folding her hands in front of her on the desk, she took on the pose Wil called her matter-of-fact stance.

“If you’ve paid any attention to the news vids, you know about the situation on Starflatz.”

All of them knew that there was a major coup going on. No one knew from one moment to the next who controlled the government, but it was swaying more and more into the hands of a radical leader named Aurous Aurialonus. He was a madman who was anti-establishment, anti-Committee and anti-military, although he controlled the current military in Starflatz’s major city, Gundesburg.

“He’s got things in a right mess, I know that,” Ray interjected. “Is he really as nuts as they say?”

Greyling weighed her answer carefully. “No, he’s worse. He’s captured the entire royal family and he plans to kill them off one by one if they don’t acquiesce to his demands.”

“Which are?”

She rolled her eyes heavenward as if saying a silent prayer. “Too bizarre to relate. His message was very garbled and not even our psychology experts can interpret it.”

Wil’s vacation plans have been interrupted, but there is compensation in the form of a pretty, sometimes lover, Penny. She is the confidential aide to Admiral Greyling, Wil’s immediate superior. He intends to see if he can get information from Penny about the mission Greyling has for him.

Wil made love to Penny tenderly, treating her like a precious, breakable crystal. She wanted it to last forever, but as all magical moments must, it ended. Not even Barry made her feel this way, as if she were delicate, ephemeral, genuinely female.

“Now,” Wil drew his finger tenderly along the curve of her jaw. “What has Greyling got planned for me?”

“I don’t know, Wil. I told you.”

“Oh, come on, you are privy to her most intimate secrets.” His fingers strayed to her body once more, but had lost some of their gentleness.

“Honestly, Wil, I don’t. She’s playing this very close to the chest.” The look in his dark eye frightened her, but after examining her a few minutes more, he relaxed.

“If you knew, would you tell me?”

Her smile reminded him of a pixie; quick and teasing. “Probably not. I didn’t get my job by having loose lips, Colonel.”

“No, but sweet nevertheless. Can’t fault me for trying.”

“Is that all that brought me here?” She tried to keep the wounded tone from her voice, but very nearly failed.

“No.” He sat up, long legs dangled over the side of the bed. Head in his hands, he sighed deeply, as sorrowful a sound as she had ever heard. The expression on his face was like a wounded animal; eye wistful, cheeks hollow.

“A man like me,” he began tentatively, “hell there aren’t any men like me.” His laugh held pain and self-loathing. “I don’t have a lot of friends, Penny. I can have any woman I want—and have—but,” his voice drifted off to nothing.

She waited, knowing he struggled with his emotions. The Lone Wolf wasn’t called that for nothing, he was the best solo agent the Marines had. He had completed more missions than any twenty other men in the service. No one knew how old he was, but everyone knew there was more to Colonel VanLipsig than met the eye. Being an aid to Greyling, she probably knew more about him than anyone save the Admiral herself.

“I hate my life,” Wil whispered so softly she hardly heard him. “I hate what I’ve become, Penny. Do you know how many people I’ve killed? I can’t even remember anymore. How many good men have died because of me? I can’t remember that either. I’m an asshole of the first order; ruthless, hard nosed, stubborn….”

“Some would say tenacious, willful and strong.”

His laugh held irony. “Yeah, some would say that. Is that the PC version of my description, Penny?”

She giggled, trying to lighten his mood. “Yeah, some would say that.” Her smile faded. “Seriously though, Wil, a man can change.”

“You know the expression ‘can’t teach an old dog?’” She nodded. “That would apply.”

“Wil, you aren’t that old…!”

His expression quelled her protest. “Baby, do you realize how old I am?”

She shook her tousled head slowly.

“Old enough to know I can’t change. So old, I knew Greyling when she was younger than you.”

Her face froze. Admiral Greyling was nearly sixty, though she hardly looked her age. Wil looked young enough to be Greyling’s son.

“I’m twenty-two.”

“I know. She and I went through basic together. After a few years, we kinda lost touch.” He shrugged resignedly. “Story of my life in a nutshell. On my tombstone it will read, ‘Colonel Wilhelm VanLipsig, he kinda lost touch.’”

“Our line of work isn’t conducive to relationships.”

“I keep telling myself that. But you, you’re with Thompson now?”

She nodded, half ashamed to admit it since she had been in the bed of another man. Wil dropped his head dejectedly.

“Guess I kinda screwed that up for you. I’m sorry.”

His apology caught her completely off guard. Wil rarely apologized for anything.

“He doesn’t have to know about this… about us…”

“He’ll know. A man knows when he’s being compared to someone else.” He held up a hand to quiet her halfhearted protest. “Trust me, he’ll know and he’ll wonder who the better man was. No matter what you do or say, he’ll doubt and eventually—he’ll kinda lose touch.”

Wil gets unexpected visitors and an abrupt end to his vacation. He breaks camp and is about half done when the team comes to collect him. Among them is a Corporal he knows, Penny Stennis. He greets her in his usual, seductive way.

Penny melted against him despite her resolve not to. Barry must be going nuts with jealousy, but what could she do? When Wil was around, she couldn’t think straight. All that she had in mind was feeling his strong, lean body sweating next to hers, his arms holding her tight, his thighs against….

His hands traveled over her body, leaving a tingling trail in their wake. Barry cleared his throat loudly, demanding their attention.

“Ready to go, sir.” His salute was almost, but not quite, a rude gesture, but it was implied nonetheless.

Wil chuckled, then laughed at Barry’s retreating back. “It’s all right, Thompson. Getting her warmed up for you! I promise to leave her hot and happy.”

Penny’s face burned. Why did he have to talk like that? He made her feel cheap. To her, their time together was wonderful. He made her feel special. Now, she realized she was one in a long list of women. She was dating Barry, but Wil made her turn to jelly, quivering inside.

Wil glanced down at her. The top of her head barely reached the middle of his broad chest.

“Coming?” He flashed the smile which had won her over in the first place.

“Not yet,” she whispered.

He chuckled softly, an incredibly seductive sound. “I’ll avoid the obvious response to that, Corporal.” His thumb brushed her neck again, heightening her desire for him. She blushed a deep red.

“I meant I have to report to Greyling before I go. She wants me to watch your transport.”

“She doesn’t trust me?”

He failed to look sincere. She smiled up at him.

“Any reason she should?”

“None whatever.” He moved closer to her, his fingers playing across the small of her back. “I’ll see you later?”

His dark eye searched her face, almost pleadingly. She wanted to say no, she was involved with someone, but her lips couldn’t form the words. His look was compelling, but not just in a sexual way. His expression, the first genuine one she had seen, melted her heart.

“Okay,” she heard herself say. “I’d like that, Colonel… Wil.”

He cupped her chin in his calloused hand, leaning his face to hers, Wil kissed Penny just as the teleport beam caught him, lifting him away.

Penny contacted Greyling, then she, too, ported to the ship. As soon as she was aboard, the bridge crew set the coordinates for their maze run. She barely had time to secure herself before the ship made its maze interstice and she felt the inexorable pull, like was turning inside out. A few minutes of disorientation passed slowly, then with a lurch, she felt the ship ease into ubiquitous space.

“I always wondered what that would feel like during sex,” Wil remarked as he squatted by her. She must have looked appalled, but he laughed. “I dunno, guess I’m weird, I find it erotic.”

“To have your navel twisted over your head?”

Wil chuckled and shrugged one shoulder. “It affects me a bit further down.” He touched her cheek tenderly, pushing a wisp of hair from her cheek. “Come on, I’ll buy you dinner.”

She managed a weak smile, leaning against his shoulder. “This is a military ship, Colonel. The meals are free.”

“Well, I always said I was a cheap date.”

Laughing softly, holding her hand, he helped her up. She did so more gracefully than she thought she would right after a maze run. Wil had a way of making her feel graceful, ladylike. For someone who was career military, and treated like a man 24/7, it was a treasured moment.

They ate dinner in his opulent quarters, usually reserved for traveling dignitaries. They were served by a steward who kept giving Penny questioning looks behind Wil’s back. It amazed her how sometimes enlisted could be more snobbish than officers about such a relationship. Since it didn’t bother Wil, it hardly mattered.

“Thank you, Edwards, you may go. I’ll call you later to clean up.”

The steward hesitated another moment to give her another look.

“That will be all,” Wil’s dismissive tone was unmistakable. “And stop giving Corporal Stennis those looks,” he directed at Edwards without taking his eyes off Penny.

Paling noticeably, Edward bowed and left.

“How did you know?” Penny asked him.

“His reflection, just there,” his fingers brushed her cheek. “In your left eye. I saw him every time.” He took her hand, leaning over the table to kiss her. “Does it bother you that I’m an officer?”

She shook her head. “No, sir. It used to, but not any more.”

He smiled tenderly. “When I am alone with you, we are just Wil and Penny. No one else matters. Nothing intrudes. And you sure don’t call me sir.”

Wil is on a much needed vacation with unexpected companions. He didn’t particularly like Ben Drexel and Ray Schmidt when he first met them. But it’s hard to walk through hell and not come out the other side a changed man.

Making noise to alert Ben and Ray, Wil loped into the camp. His long legs ate up the miles with an almost mechanical gait. Dropping his pack loudly on the ground, he groaned, stretched and looked around. The other two were not in evidence.

“Ben! Ray! You two sorry excuses for Marines, where are you? What’s for supper? He got no response except the sighing of the wind in the tall trees around the camp.

A comunit in the tent beeped, startling Wil. He spun around, dropping to a low crouch, weapon drawn, before he realized what it was. The noise continued persistently, until he answered it.

He heard her chuckle softly and pictured the curve of her full, red lips, sparkling gray eyes and short, dark salt and pepper hair curling around her face.

“None of the above. Just checking up on my favorite Colonel.”

“I’m alright, just got back from a hike. Looking for my camping buddies, they aren’t here.”

“I know,” her tone changed abruptly.

“What haven’t you told me, Elise?”

There was a brief pause. Wil could picture her pacing the deck much as he paced the tent, trying to put the situation into the best light so he wouldn’t yell.

“I have orders, a special assignment.”

“Elise!” His tone was dangerous, his anger growing.

“I’m aware this is a much needed vacation, Wil,” she said calmly.

“But?”

“We need you on this… I need you. You three are the only ones I can trust.”

“Ray’s unfit for active…”

“I know. He’ll be on the support end. It’s you and Ben I most need. They’ve already been picked up. I have an escort standing by for you. When they got back without you, I was worried.”

“Didn’t Ray and Ben explain where I was?”

“No. I don’t think they trusted my people. They told me personally, or I couldn’t have contacted you.”

“So talk.”

“No, not like this. The team will be there soon, ETA seven minutes, fifty-two seconds. They’ll help you break camp. Greyling out.”

Wil hurled the comunit across the tent, watching it smash to pieces on a rock under the tent floor.

Exasperated, he began to break camp, starting with the sleeping bags and camp stoves. He had the tent half down by the time the team showed. A corporal he recognized came forward, snapped a saucy salute and stood at attention. She was a short, petite and full-chested redhead nicknamed Penny because of her hair. She was Greyling’s confidential aid. He’d taken her into the Zero-G room once or twice, but that applied to most women he had served with.

“At ease, Corporal.”

She relaxed into her stance, waiting for him to speak. Instead, he touched the nape of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. “What’s got Greyling all twisted up in knots, eh?”

“I don’t know, sir. I was told to get you, Colonel.”

“What if I refuse to go? This is my vacation.”

“Yes, sir, the Admiral said to use any and all resources at my disposal, sir.”

“I see.” He stepped closer, pulling her to him.

The men with her pretended not to notice, but one lanky fellow with swarthy good looks and fiery eyes smoldered silently. Competition—just the way Wil liked it. He kissed Penny, holding her in an unyielding embrace. Everyone knew VanLipsig lived by his own rules. No one pointed out that enlisted and officers did not fraternize. Regulations didn’t apply to the Lone Wolf.